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Today
• Republicans Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will ride their campaign bus
to Celina and Findlay, ending with a rally at the Marion County Fairgrounds in Marion at 7 p.m.,
with doors opening at 5 p.m.
Monday
• President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton will campaign in
Youngstown.
Romney will campaign in Avon Lake.
Tuesday
• Romney will campaign in Lima and Dayton.
• Vice President Joe Biden will campaign in Gambier and Wooster.

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Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoERIC THAYER | THE NEW YORK TIMESU.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., flanked by two of his children, Sam and Elizabeth, rallies the crowd from the bed of a pickup truck outside Lindsey’s Bakery in Circleville.

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – After listening to Paul Ryan’s 21-minute speech yesterday to several hundred people in an auditorium at Zanesville High School, Judy Bellville was convinced more than ever that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney chose the right running mate.

“He’s from a small town, and he knows small towns and what they’re going through,” said the 58-year-old hospital worker from nearby Cambridge.

Asked if Ryan, a congressman from Wisconsin, was a better choice than U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, a fellow Ohioan, Bellville said she likes them equally, but then made a poignant observation:

“Portman probably would have brought Romney more Ohio voters.”

Ryan himself said yesterday in Zanesville, “As Ohio goes, so goes America.” To emphasize the point, Ryan has practically lived in the state, spending at least 16 days and making 25 stops through yesterday — far more than any other candidate since he was tapped by Romney.

But if this election between Romney and President Barack Obama indeed does come down to Ohio, and if Obama wins it by a couple of percentage points or less, might Romney forever regret not taking Portman, who was his second choice?

“That’s very possible,” said Stephen Brooks, a University of Akron political scientist, adding that it’s unclear how many more votes, if any, Portman might have meant to Romney in Ohio if he were on the ticket instead of Ryan.

Although it’s moot — Ryan, after all, is the running mate — a number of pundits had speculated during Romney’s vetting of prospects that Portman, who is from Cincinnati, might have added a couple of percentage points to Romney’s Ohio vote take, especially helping him pile up big margins in Republican-rich southwestern Ohio.

“I know he’s very popular in areas of Ohio, and he might have helped Romney carry Ohio, but I’m not disappointed with Paul Ryan,” said Ernie Zehner, 65, of Uniontown, as he waited to hear Romney and Ryan on Friday night at Hoover High School in North Canton.

At one stop after another on Ryan’s bus tour across Ohio yesterday, Republicans expressed the same sentiment, most of them viewing Ryan as a strong asset.

“I’m from Ohio, and I didn’t know who Rob Portman was,” said Richard Endicott, 61, of Springfield, who showed up for a Ryan stop at a Circleville bakery. “But I knew who Paul Ryan was.”

“Ryan’s personality connects more with me,” said Forrest Kiser, 80, of Circleville.

With Portman as a running mate, “it may have been easier for (Romney), but I still think Paul Ryan will pull his weight enough to win the election,” said Ron Carter, a 50-year-old state-government employee from Greenfield.

Ryan himself made sure to emphasize his Ohio ties: He’s a graduate of Miami University in Oxford. Greeting the crowd in Circleville, he asked how many would root for Miami in the game against Ohio University later in the day. He was greeted with jovial boos; many in the crowd were wearing Ohio University sweatshirts and jackets.

“I always try to look forward,” said Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Upper Arlington, who went to the Circleville event. “Paul Ryan is well-known in Ohio. Not only did he go to school in Ohio, but people are getting to know him, and people really like him. I love Rob Portman, but we’ve got to focus on the ticket and getting it elected, and Paul Ryan is doing a great job.”

The University of Akron’s Brooks said Ryan, a Roman Catholic and outdoorsman, is a good fit for Ohio because he appeals to working-class and Catholic voters. “Wisconsin and Ohio are very similar,” Brooks said. “Paul Ryan has a much better connection with blue-collar people than Romney. That may be the main reason he’s living here.”

Jeremy Bird, the Obama campaign’s national field director, said Ohio voters will reject Ryan because he opposed the federal rescue of General Motors and Chrysler and supports budget policies that would cut funding for education, job creation and other “things that made Ohio great.”

Chris Maloney, spokesman for Romney’s Ohio campaign, said Ryan’s background gives him a special affinity with Ohio voters as “someone who understands their values and lives them.”

Maloney also noted the obvious: Although Portman is not the running mate, he has appeared relentlessly with Romney and is the campaign’s key in-state surrogate.

“Sen. Portman has provided the course heading to every facet of our campaign in Ohio — from messaging to voter contact to policy,” Maloney said. “Sen. Portman is as ingrained in this campaign in Ohio as our national ticket is.”